Springfield, Mass. – The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts announced today the 20 finalists for the 2012 Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award. The annual honor, named for Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic Bob Cousy, recognizes the top point guards in college basketball. An original list of 60-plus candidates was trimmed by a Hall of Fame appointed, nationally-based committee to the below list of 20 student-athletes.

“This list of 20 candidates consists of college basketball’s elite point guards,” said John L. Doleva, President & CEO of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. “Through the first few months of the season, these floor generals have demonstrated incredible leadership, court vision and toughness that epitomizes the legacy of Mr. Cousy.”

“The talent level among our 20 finalists demonstrates the competitiveness at the point guard position in college basketball this year,” said Ken Kauffman, Chair of the 2012 Bob Cousy Award. “As we move through the next rounds to our final award-winner, it will clearly be a difficult decision to select one player from this elite group.”

The current listing of 20 finalists for the 2012 Bob Cousy Award will be narrowed down to 10 players in early February and then down five players by early March. The final five players in contention for the award will be presented to Mr. Cousy and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee. This Hall of Fame committee is made up of top college basketball personnel including media members, head coaches, Sports Information Directors and Hall of Famers. The winner of the 2012 Bob Cousy Award will be awarded at the Hall of Fame’s Class Announcement on Monday April 2nd in New Orleans as part of NCAA Final Four weekend.

About the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame:
Located in Springfield, Massachusetts, the Birthplace of Basketball, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame promotes and preserves the game of basketball at every level – professional, collegiate, men and women.

NBA journeyman Acie Law has agreed to play in Serbia all of next year, with or without a lockout. Via ESPN: “It is a one-year, $500,000 deal with the Serbian team Partizan, according to his agent, Mark Bartlestein. The deal does not have an out clause that would allow Law to return to the NBA should the current lockout end. Law has bounced around the NBA in his four seasons. He was a first-round draft pick of the Atlanta Hawks in 2007 and also has played for Chicago, Golden State, Charlotte and Memphis. Law began last season with the Warriors and was traded to the Grizzlies. He appeared in 51 games overall, averaging 8.5 minutes per game.”

I simply love the idea of Michael Jordan trying to get through to Tyrus (assuming, of course, that MJ even knows this trade is going down): “The Bobcats, determined to add an athletic big man to their front court, have agreed to acquire Tyrus Thomas in a deal with the Bulls that would send Acie Law, Flip Murray, and a future No. 1 pick to Chicago, a person with knowledge of the situation told CBSSports.com. Charlotte beat out several other suitors — New York, Denver, and San Antonio chief among them — and will have the rest of the season to evaluate the soon-to-be restricted free agent and decide whether to commit to Thomas long-term. Trading Thomas spares the Bulls the embarrassment of losing one of their best players through free agency with no compensation for the second year in a row.”

“The Golden State Warriors have agreed in principle to send Stephen Jackson to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic, NBA sources said Monday morning.

The deal also would send Warriors guard Acie Law to the Bobcats.”

Vlad and Raja can come off the books at the end of the season, so the Warriors are killing two birds with one stone so to speak. And, well, Stephen Jackson is still owed close $30 million over three more seasons. Yikes

OK, tired and run-down here, so much so that I didn’t even make it to Steve Nash’s soccer game tonight. HOWEVA!, last night I went to the New Era/EA Sports/Blake Griffin party at the New Era flagship store, though I didn’t get to speak to Blake. (And I wasn’t really trying to, considering Cub had him locked.) Then today I went out to the Media Day stuff, and I videoed that experience.

But first, quickly, the Hawks and Warriors are close to making a trade. The Hawks would move Speedy Claxton and Acie Law, who played about 20 minutes combined last season, to Golden State in exchange for Jamal Crawford. As weird as this deal sounds, I think it works for Atlanta, for several reasons.

Now, I am also assuming that the Hawks wouldn’t trade for Crawford and then re-sign Mike Bibby. You don’t have a guy making $9 million a year chilling on the bench. (Well, the Hawks don’t do that.) So my guess — and this is only a guess — is that the Hawks are bringing in Crawford and then spending the $5 million they save on Marvin Williams and Zaza Pachulia. And then with the 19th pick tomorrow they’ll draft a point guard.

Again, that’s just my initial guess. If that’s what the Hawks are doing, here’s why I like this move:

1. The Hawks are basically giving away dead weight and getting in return a guy who can play the 1 or the 2. Yes, Claxton and Law are expiring contracts next summer, but we don’t need two guys not playing taking up cap space. And Law and Claxton were not going to play on the Hawks this season.

2. Crawford isn’t much of a defender, which is what earns one playing time in the Mike Woodson regime. Then again, Crawford is a better defender than Mike Bibby. You, my reader, whoever you are, are likely a better defender than Mike Bibby.

3. Crawford’s best asset is his ability to go one-on-one and break guys down off the dribble. And that’s pretty much all the Hawks do on offense, so he’ll fit right in.

4. Crawford isn’t much of a ballhandler, but Bibby wasn’t really either. As long as Jamal can get the ball up the floor and get the Hawks into their offense, that’s all they need. Because they’re going to go one-on-one eventually anyway.

The one area where the Hawks lose ground is in leadership. One of the Hawks players once told me that the one thing Bibby brought the day he showed up was “swagger,” and that helped push the Hawks to a higher level. I’m not sure if Joe Johnson has that in him, and I don’t know that any other current Hawks do either. So maybe we can sign a vet/locker room guy.

Then again, this isn’t a done deal. Until it is, we’ll wait.

I’ll be posting this year’s Draft hats contest shortly on the homepage. In the meantime, here’s the video I took today at the 2009 NBA Draft media day…